


Crash Landing on You - Gu Seung Jun and Seo Dan's Turn

by kiri_g



Category: Gu Seung Jun - Fandom, Ri Jeong Hyeok - Fandom, Seo Dan - Fandom, Yoon Se-ri - Fandom, 사랑의 불시착 | Crash Landing on You (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:42:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 6,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25048615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiri_g/pseuds/kiri_g
Summary: Turning back time from Episode 15, Gu Seung Jun is to relive his past months in North Korea one more, and one last time. Could he find the mysterious feminine voice in his dreams, and find its true meaning before his fate plays out?This is based on the events in the Netflix and tvN K-series "Crash Landing on You", all characters are written based on their traits and stories in the original series.
Relationships: Gu Seung Jun/Seo Dan, Ri Jeong Hyeok/Yoon Se-ri
Comments: 11
Kudos: 26





	1. An Intriguing Encounter

_You. It was you. It was you, Gu Seung Jun._

A sharp pain crept through Gun Seung Jun’s stomach as he awoke from his long recurring dream. He winced as he sat upright to relieve the agonizing sensation exploding in his stomach as the humming of the aircraft's engines gradually registered in his consciousness.

 _Aish_.

Ever since the first time he had met Yoon Se-ri, “illegitimate” chaebol of the wealthy businessman Yoon Jeung-pyeong, Gu Seung Jun had begun dreaming of the same trembling words from a feminine voice he could not recognize, and this enigmatic voice was always accompanied by an excruciating and penetrating pain in his stomach.

It haunted him every night for the past seven years, often causing him to jolt awake in cold sweat in the middle of his sleep.

In the beginning years, he preoccupied himself with therapeutic treatments and searching for whom the feminine voice had belonged to, yet neither had sought him relief. His few therapeutic sessions had always ended with him storming out the clinic, cursing at how the therapists had delved into his past with sensitive questions that he ruled to be absolutely absurd and irrelevant. The search for the owner of the mysterious voice then ended without a satisfying conclusion.

He now lived with it, and treated it as an irreversible curse the devil had sent as punishment for him being a con-man.

_“…온도는 섭씨 11 도입니다. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Pyongyang International Airport. Local time is 8 p.m. and the temperature…”_

Gu Seung Jun rubbed his eyes and unfastened his seatbelt, wincing again at the now fading pain. As the plane reached a full stop, he stood up and put on his dark aegean colored coat and reached to the side of his first-class seat for his black suitcase, immensely heavy from the stacks of dollar bills it held.

_Untraceable, and therefore, clean._

Gu Seung Jun smiled in satisfaction as the image of a very pissed (and very scammed) Yoon Se-hyeong came to mind. Satisfied and relaxed, Gu Seung Jun made his short walk to the aircraft exit, giving a flirtatious wink to the smiling flight attendant that bid him farewell.

Gu Seung Jun was a striking man. Despite his proud six feet height, muscular physique and being in his late twenties, he wore the complexion and features of an immature high schooler, and a handsome one, too. He walked the walk of only the elite, and his body emitted a sort of charisma that immediately distinguished him from the passing crowd.

He guided his suitcase with skill through the stream of crowd coming from different directions as he searched for Cheon Su-bok, the North Korean coordinator who was paid to accompany the confident South Korean con-man.

He squeezed toward the closest automatic exit booth, but out of nowhere, another black suitcase crashed against his.

Alert, he glanced at the suitcase and guided his stare up to receive its owner’s indifferent gaze. He smiled.

The woman he had bumped into was exceptionally beautiful, with large, almond eyes that shimmered with curiosity, and grim, round lips that appeared to have never broken into a laugh nor even smiled.

He held out his hand for a shake, but instead of an equal response, the woman only returned with a slight nod of acknowledgment before she turned to her way. Gu Seung Jun’s expression remained unchanged, and his gaze and smile followed the beautiful stranger’s figure as she exited the booth.

A man like him would expect any girl to blush and smile at his manly gesture, but how could this woman seem so unbothered and indifferent? But indeed, something about this woman was different. She let out an aura somewhat extraordinary that sent shivers up his spine, and it wasn't just her astonishing beauty.

There was something stirring inside him. Curious and intrigued, his gaze continued to follow the woman who, with no more than a small, complementary nod, had completely fascinated him.


	2. Chapter 2

Seo Dan ducked into the back seat of her uncle’s 729 plated black jaguar, her mind dismissing her uncle’s excited yet one-sided conversations with her, for it only contained one thought – Ri Jeong Hyeok. The man that continuously appeared in her thoughts was her childhood crush and fiancé of ten years. For what is worth, she could say she loved him.

“Uncle, does he ever speak of me?” she asked, interrupting her uncle’s non-stop ramblings. Go Myeong-suk paused. There was a round of silence between them before he answered.

“Who?”

The air grew silent.

His answer was enough. Seo Dan sighed as her eyes wandered outside the window, watching the colorful lights which marked the silhouettes of Pyongyang buildings pass by her in a rainbow blur.

When could Ri Jeon Hyeok finally show any care for her? She recalled her pitifully few past interactions with her fiancé and was overwhelmed with sadness and disappointment. It seemed as though no matter what she did for him, he would never see her more than a girl his parents had forced him to one day marry.

The more she thought about Ri Jeong Hyeok the more troubled she became. What if he already fell in love with another woman? What if he is already married in secret? And, God forbid, is he already a father? The thoughts were killing her, and her sixth sense told her she might not have been completely wrong. Anxious, she made a decision.

“Uncle, I want to visit Captain Ri.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi C.L.O.Y. lovers! I'm sorry this chapter is short, for it is a transition chapter. I promise the next ones will be longer and a more satisfying read!


	3. Chapter 3

Comrade Cheon navigated the black Range Rover through the woods, busy with poplar trees and barely omitting a clear path for the large car to pass through.

Gu Seung Jun sat in the back seat and continued to marvel at the beautiful creature he had stumbled upon at the airport. Though their interaction was short, he seemed to remember every detail about her, how she wore her long, wavy hair in a side-part and pinned a crystal brooch on the left, how she made her floral North Korean apparel appear so extravagant, how she walked with rare confidence he could not find in other women. But the thing about this North Korean woman that had so intrigued him was none of that. Beyond all else, she reminded him of someone. Someone whom he had a feeling he knew so well. Someone whom he thought he once loved. 

“We’re here.” 

The driver’s sudden words dragged Gu Seung Jun back to reality. The car was parked in front of a massive mansion, all of its interior and exterior lights lit, revealing a luxurious living room behind the full-size glass windows. Half a dozen men in suits and earpieces awaited.

“They said it’s bullet-proof” 

Gu Seung Jun chuckled. There really is nothing you couldn’t buy with money, even in North Korea. 

He examined his surroundings. Even in the darkness, he could tell this mansion, though being grandeur, was invisible to anyone who did not have the right directions. Though he was often rendered with the description of simple-minded and immature, he was more intelligent than anyone and liked to refer to his character as charismatic and playful rather than so. And now, he knew better than anyone that his one billion won and life are on the line, and he would need to do everything in his power to keep his stay, whether it be short or long, discreet.

“Mr. Gu, I think we should take this time to think about our next move. Yoon Se-hyeong is rather influential in North Korea. From what I heard, he may be able to track our escape route from Shenyang,” Cheon Su Bok said as Gu Seung Jun got ready to settle down.

“Mr. Cheon,” Gu Seung Jun replied, smiling indignantly, “firstly, you must not say the word ‘escape’. Considering our current circumstances I would rather have you call it a wealthy British Diplomat’s hastily planned vacation. We shouldn’t make ourselves criminals of mind,” he paused, adjusting his smile to one more aggressively annoyed, “ and secondly, if you haven’t noticed, it is late, and I would rather enjoy a candle-lit, late dinner of a bowl of hot South Korean Ramyeon than discuss these troubling things with you at this hour.” 

“But-”

“Mr. Cheon,” Gu Seung Jun interrupted, smiling again, “I will pay you 10,000 won if you would stop nagging me,”

“I-” the nervous man began, only to be interrupted again, 

“And vise versa, for every time you nag me, you will pay me 10,000 won.”

The square-jawed man scoffed with disbelief at a deal that is hardly fair, but before he could begin again, the intended audience of his ‘nagging’ had already disappeared out of the room.

4 kilometers away, Seo Dan has arrived at the military village where Ri Jeong Hyeok lived. 

“Gosh, what poor conditions these soldiers live in. And I heard the Senior Colonel lives here with his wife, too. Look at this, do they even have kitchens in the house? I suppose not,” Go Myeong-suk muttered with a strange excitement. Seo Dan eyed her uncle and coughed, and Go Myeong-suk, having caught the glare from the rear-view mirror, timidly sunk down and complimented the village instead, saying with counterfeit determination how the houses are arranged so close together that it will help neighbors to bond. 

“Uncle,” Seo Dan began as they parked in front of Ri Jeong Hyeok’s cottage, “do return home. I will stay the night in Jeong Hyeok’s house.” 

Go Myeong-suk seemed to have trouble formulating his response. Though he trusted his niece would only “stay” the night, such an act of leaving a young girl in a young man’s house was surely sacrilegious enough to raise some eyebrows. His jaw opened and closed, unable to make a response. 

“Uncle?” 

Seo Dan’s head popped in the driver’s window. Go Myeong-suk jumped, and with his hands still firmly on the wheel he gave a slight nod, and Seo Dan walked out of sight. 

Awkward and confused, Go Myeong-suk turned his head back to the front, and with his face knotted in the strangest expression, he turned back for Pyongyang.


	4. Chapter 4

Seo Dan arrived at the rusted teal front gate, but judging from the lack of lights in the interior of the house, she assumed its owner was not yet home. It was winter time, and she felt particularly cold after coming out of an air-conditioned car, though she appeared to ignore the cold, and stood indifferently upright with her hands in her coat pockets. It was pitch dark, and despite for the candle light emitted from a few cottages, the whole village was pitch black. Seo Dan was afraid of the dark, and she had always been this way, yet at this moment she kept her demeanor clear of any excess emotion, for her Ri Jeong Hyeok could be back any moment.

She had only waited a few minutes before two village women approached her. They were carrying candle lights and potato sacks, and their silhouettes appeared frighteningly similar to that of robbers. Seo Dan took a defensive step back into the darkness, only to trip on a rock awkwardly positioned right behind her heels. 

“Aya!” 

The pair of village women turned at the sound and shoved their candle lights into Seo Dan’s face as an attempt to identify the women standing in front of Captain Ri’s house.

“Seo Dan?”

Seo Dan looked up instantly, though she was blinded by the two candle lights, she could recognize that voice anywhere. It was Ri Jeong Hyeok. _Her _Ri Jeong Hyeok. She quickly picked herself up and made herself presentable, but before she could greet the man standing amidst the light, she heard another voice. A woman’s voice.__

____

“That very unfortunate thing is happening right now, isn’t it?”

____

It was a young and crisp Southern woman’s voice, and it bore a certain tone of nervousness. Ignited with a potential fury, Seo Dan pushed the villagers’ lights aside, adjusting her eyes once more, she found a brown-haired woman staring straight at her. The woman was stunningly beautiful. Long, brown hair draped over her perfect heart shaped face and defined jawline, and her doe eyes showed a sort of regret and awkwardness. Looking away from the woman, Seo Dan relocated her stare at the man beside her. _Ri Jeong Hyeok. _It had been years since they last met, but he looked as though he had never changed. The tall man in his camouflage uniform had determined, clear eyes, a tall nose and thin yet pouty lips. His physique complemented his uniform perfectly, with his broad shoulders stretching the top, and thin waist that was synched in by the leather bandolier. Seo Dan chose to ignore the woman.__

______ _ _

“Mr. Ri,” she began, “it’s been a while.”

______ _ _

“Miss. Seo.”

______ _ _

There was an awkward silence between them, and Seo Dan sensed her plan to stay at the house overnight wasn’t even worth mentioning to the estranged man in front of her. It wouldn’t be too late to call her uncle, but she knew that by doing so, her initials intentions would spill. 

______ _ _

“I was just passing by, to see how you were doing. I heard from my uncle that you have transferred here.”

______ _ _

Ri Jeong Hyeok nodded in silence. 

______ _ _

Seo Dan’s gaze turned to the woman beside him, and found her staring at the ground and playing with her hair in an awkward attempt to disappear into the soil. 

______ _ _

Part of Seo Dan was jealous. She wanted to question who the woman beside _him _was. But the other half of her that restrained her from doing so had a feeling whatever response he was going to formulate to her question was one way or another going to upset her.__

______ _ _

__So, she simply ignored the woman, once again._ _

______ _ _

__Ri Jeong Hyeok could sense the tension rising between the three, and was equally aware that the two passing village women were still staring at the conflicting scene. If he told the truth, Se-ri would be exposed. If he hadn’t, the village women would find him disloyal to his (imposter) fiancée._ _

______ _ _

__“This is my colleague,” he adjusted, “we are on a mission together of which I cannot go into details.”_ _

______ _ _

__Seo Dan nodded. It was a known fact even to her that she didn’t know Ri Jeong Hyeok well, but one would not need to know him well to know that he is a bad liar. With no intentions of tangling the situation into a greater mess, she simply nodded._ _

______ _ _

__The two exchanged, and Ri Jeong Hyeok invited her to stay in the cottage for the night, for he had no access to his military jeep at the moment, and therefore couldn’t drive her home. Though tempted, Seo Dan declined the invitation._ _

______ _ _

__It was the last of her dignity that prevented her from sharing her fiance’s house with _another _woman, a woman the ever-so-honest Captain Ri was willing to lie for.___ _

______ _ _


	5. Chapter 5

_Aish_. As Gu Seung Jun’s large vehicle guided around the military village, he slowly began doubting the privacy of his resort. He had taken the car out for an inspection himself, for he truly trusted no one but himself.

He slapped the driving wheel and sunk back in his seat as he slowed the wheels.

I should have known. Those North Koreans cannot be trusted.

Of _all_ the places in North Korea, they chose to put him just a few kilometers away from a military housing unit?

Gu Seung Jun sighed. He could only pray that the “densely packed” woods and broken routes with deadly cliffs would be enough to stop his persecutors from finding his mansion.

Vaguely, at the borders of the ground where his headlights could reach, he saw a pair of straight, feminine legs. There was a woman.

For a second, Gu Seung Jun was enlightened with a strange feeling of déjà vu, that he had met this woman before.

His heart pounded as he got out of his car and approached the stranger who stood so still he questioned whether she had been a statue.

“Good evening, what is a young woman like you standing out alone at this time of night?” He was smiling as he reached his hand.

The woman turned, and under the headlights cast from his car, he could see the woman perfectly. It was her from the airport. Gu Seung Jun’s smile diminished so that his lips formed the shape of a letter “o” instead.

_What fate._

He held out his hand again.

“Gu Seung Jun,” he introduced himself, “we meet again.”

“Seo Dan.”

Seo Dan.

_Seo Dan._

His head stirred. Overwhelming emotions that he could not place swam in his mind.

Seo Dan.

He had heard that voice before. He _knew_ Seo Dan.


	6. Chapter 6

The car ride was silent. A migraine plagued Gu Seung Jun’s head as he struggled to find direction in the poplar woods.

Seo Dan had agreed to stay with him, on the grounds that she was the precious niece of a high ranking official of the State Security Department. 

Gu Seung Jun was muddled. His eyebrows knit together as he tried to arrange things piece by piece. It was the first time he had so wished the enigmatic voice would come to him.

He was sure, yet he had no clue. 

The stirring feeling that Seo Dan had brought him the second they met, to him, was no longer a coincidence. 

_It was you, Gu Seung Jun. ___

__Matching the voice in his dreams and the one coming from the beautiful woman together, he found no difference but the tone of which it was spoken._ _

__The mysterious voice that called his name, besotted with mournful sorrow, with despair, and love._ _

__“Gu Seung Jun-ssi,”_ _

__He turned._ _

__This voice was none of that. It was rather plain, indifferent, and – loveless._ _

__

__“Aigoo, so you do speak,” he chuckled._ _

__“Are you not feeling well?”_ _

__Gu Seung Jun turned back to the wheel. Looking at the trails, he noticed he no longer recognized them. He had surely diverged from their route home._ _

__“Gwenchanayo,” he smiled, “the house shouldn’t be far…”_ _

__Suddenly, almost by timing, a pain struck hard into Gu Seung Jun’s head, as if a ghost had given him a blow._ _

__He grunted, and the sudden shock it sent to his head had his consciousness spiraling away into the darkness, and before he could hit the brakes, the car hit an unexpectedly thick poplar tree first._ _

__Seo Dan’s screams rang in his ears, and they bounced from left to right until at last, they quieted away and Gu Seung Jun fell into a deep slumber._ _


	7. Chapter 7

Brooch. Rifle. Ramyeon. Ring. Salty porridge. Seo Dan.

_Love._

Gu Seung Jun jolted up from his luxurious, king-size bed, panting and sweating as if he had just participated in a marathon.

A very startled and even more frightened doctor held at gunpoint by an equally alarmed Mr. Cheon awaited by his bed.

“Gu Seung Jun,” the North Korean man began, “you fainted on your way home. What were you doing outside at that time of night? I specifically told you to not leave my sight yet you-”

Gu Seung Jun held his hand out in a motion to stop the almost frenzied man from finishing his words, and upon seeing it to have taken effect, his hand turned 180 degrees, a motion to request money.

“10,000 won, Mr. Cheon,”

“I.. I was going to say that the woman you had in the car had used your phone to contact me, that’s how we were able to save-”

Gu Seung Jun interrupted again, this time with a strange and sudden excitement rather than annoyance, “the woman, where has she gone?”

“She’s in the kitchen, she prepared breakfast after I told her I don’t know how to cook.”

Gu Seung Jun stared blankly for a second, processing his thoughts.

During the time he was unconscious, he had experienced a familiar euphoria, and every thought he could remember that passed through his mind during his slumber was associated with this woman.

Yet, he did not know how, or why.

Ripping the IV from his wrist, he shot out of the room.

Coming into the living room, he witnessed the woman from the night before. She was still wearing her floral dress and pearl crystal brooch, and was filling a bowl with porridge.

Sensing his entrance, Seo Dan turned around, her wavy hair slightly swinging across her slender shoulders.

“You are awake.”

He nodded.

She nodded back.

“I saw your fridge was empty, so I couldn’t cook much more than porridge.”

“It is more than enough, thank you, uh, for saving me.”

The beautiful woman did not reply further.

Gu Seung Jun sat at the large marble dining table. Seeing as Seo Dan was probably not a person to small-talk, he ate in silence instead.

To his utmost surprise, the porridge tasted just like his mother’s. The consistency, the saltiness, it all reminded him of his mother. Bittersweet memories flooded his mind, of his family, and strangely, of Seo Dan.

_Is it simply déjà vu?_

Upon seeing him finish his porridge, Seo Dan got up and ready to leave, as the sound of a honk outside the house reminded her that her uncle had arrived.

“He’s here. I will get going now,” her monotoned voice said.

Gu Seung Jun stood up, semi-limping, he followed her to the front door.

“You know you don’t have to be so cold, right?”

Seo Dan stopped in her tracks, and awaited his speech.

“You know, I find a strange familiarity with you, like I’ve known you. Surely it wasn’t a coincidence we met again after the airport?”

Seo Dan thought hard. _Did we?_

“I have seen you somewhere before, that’s why I remember you. I remember you talking to me. You were telling me how it was me, I don’t know, but you were saying something and you were crying.”

Seo Dan turned around, “I don’t know what you are talking about, Gu Seung Jun-ssi. I think you should be getting some rest, you bumped your head on the wheel quite hard yesterday night.”

“But I-”

“Thank you, for your hospitality Gu Seung Jun-ssi.”

With that, Seo Dan turned back to the door once more and exited without hesitation, leaving Gu Seung Jun standing at the door frame, mind-boggled at the exchange.

“You’re welcome?” He trailed, almost in a whisper at the woman who had now climbed into the black jaguar.

7 29384

Gu Seung Jun read the license plate.

_Interesting, very interesting._ After this “fated” second encounter, he was now more than determined he couldn’t let this woman go.


	8. Chapter 8

The Pyongyang Commodore hotel was almost as splendor as you could expect any “themed” hotel in the world to be. The lobby was not magnificent, but it sported sort of a unique rendition of a vintage western bar, with great wooden front desks and being dimly illuminated by few golden lights. Vibrant reds, whites, and blues – colors of the North Korean flag – could be spotted present in tiered chandeliers and vintage decorative paintings adorned on the walls.

Its twentieth floor was where Seo Dan and Ri Jeong Hyeok would soon sit down with their respective parents to design a date for the much-and-too-long-awaited wedding.

But now, Seo Dan was busy with jealousy over an unexpected guest that had come along with her fiancé.

It was the woman from the night before. Through her angered talk with her fiancé, she had come to find out that the woman who spoke with a South Korean accent was called Yoon Se-ri.

Apparently, she had come to Pyongyang for her own personal concerns, and was not, in fact, following Ri Jeong Hyeok, or worse, accompanying him.

“Yoon Se-ri,” the tall man who was finally dressed in a suit rather than his military uniform began, softly, “wait for me at the café over there. Do not move away from my sight. Alright?”

Yoon Se-ri almost rolled her eyes. Back in South Korea, where she was the “divine” CEO of Seri’s Choice, no one ever dared give her directions, not even her own father. She was always the one making the rules. But now, in the reality of things, she understood conforming under Ri Jeong Hyeok’s orders would do her no more wrong than right. More so, she trusted him with all her heart.

Ri Jeong Hyeok’s eyes followed her way to the small open café in the lobby, where she sat conveniently at a table he could easily keep his eye on.

He wanted to make the conversation quick. Even though this was Pyongyang, and Yoon Se-ri looked no different among the other North Korean women passing by, almost everything about her was different. Although she wore her hair in neatly arranged “Goodbye” style curls, and she wore a brown chequered two-piece, there was an “exotic” sophistication in her that almost put a literal golden, sparkling aura around her. He prayed they would not get caught. This was Pyongyang, not their little military village. Here, he was a man of little influence and credit, and she was a woman with a South Korean accent without a good reason.

“Ri Jeon Hyeok-ssi,” Seo Dan called as an attempt to bring his diverted attention back to her.

Ri Jeon Hyeok turned back. Ah. The marriage.

“My mother and uncle will be arriving shortly,” she said, “and before they do, I must speak to you about something.”

Seo Dan was annoyed. In the duration of her short sentence, she had caught him stealing glances at Yoon Se-ri multiple times.

“Ri Jeong Hyeok-ssi,” she addressed his name again, “we are getting married, and soon. But do you know how I feel when I see you come into a hotel with another woman, the same woman you had shared a house with?”

“I told you, Seo Dan, we are on separate missions. Don’t interpret it that way. We are no more than colleagues traveling to the same place.” Ri Jeong Hyeok was a dense man. He only spoke of the logical truth rather than the emotional one.

“Getting married to me should not be a mission! You promised ten years ago. It was long decided. Do you really think I had nothing to sacrifice for this marriage?”

Indeed, she had much to sacrifice for this marriage. She was constantly chased after by boys during her overseas study in Russia, but she never gave in. Now that she was finally getting married after spending ten years of her youth on him, she was left to find that another woman now stood beside him.

 _Ten years,_ she thought.

To think how many “ten years” a girl even has in life…

“I am marrying you, Seo Dan. It is my parents’ and your mother’s wish. I am just as determined as you are.”

It wasn’t a satisfactory response. Seo Dan stood, processing the man’s soft-spoken words that felt like a million daggers stabbing her heart to nothing.

Ri Jeong Hyeok could not understand her anger, though. Surely, she couldn’t have love for him? Of what he had remembered, their interactions were no more than just the time she had flown to Switzerland to visit him.

Instinctively, he looked over Seo Dan at Yoon Se-ri again. But to his surprise, he witnessed something that wouldn't allow him to take his gaze away from her again. There was a man, standing beside Yoon Se-ri and speaking to her, and as he quickly made his way to her, he noticed they weren’t just speaking, but they were laughing.

Ri Jeong Hyeok no longer remembered Seo Dan’s presence. He alerted himself that anyone who approached Yoon Se-ri was a threat. Yet, buried deep down inside, he knew it was more than just being merely concerned for her safety.

As he approached the pair, he examined the man. Gu Seung Jun was wearing a grey cashmere coat, paired with a tight black turtleneck that accentuated his pectoral muscles and long neck.

In a swift movement, Ri Jeong Hyeok swept right between her and the man, and with a frighteningly intimidating glare, he pulled her away from him.

“Yoon Se-ri,” his tone was grave. “Let’s go.”

Ri Jeong Hyeok tugged her left hand and was about to leave when he felt another force countering his own. The words that force followed was something he could not have ever imagined was real.

“Let her go. Yoon Se-ri is my fiancée”


	9. Chapter 9

It was a dramatic moment, one that you could only see in outdated cliché soap operas but cannot help yourself from feeling the tension as it rises.

Ri Jeong Hyeok had done everything in his power to keep himself from throwing a fist at the “shameless” man who spewed such absurd lies. But then, to his account, his _own_ fiancée was there, too.

How ironic.

It was only then did he take in just how sardonic the situation was. The four stood in a square, all looking confused for just how everyone seemed to know each other.

Not many questions were asked. The uneasiness and tension between the four were too dense for anyone to ask questions or answer them. There was simply an exchange of handshakes, forced smiles, and vague self-introductions.

……

At last, the time for the in-law’s dinner arrived. Once alone, Yoon Se-ri, still bewildered, showered Gu Seung Jun with questions about his sudden appearance in North Korea. She spoke to him about his crash-landing in the military border, and of how she was to escape as an athletic team’s substitute player the following day.

On any other day back in Seoul, she would never have spoken to Gu Seung Jun the way she did now, but right now it comforted her to be having a conversation with a person from home, a person who spoke the same South Korean accent and knew of business and trade.

Cutting the scene to a well-lit private dinner booth on the twentieth floor of the hotel, the two soon-to-be-wed sat down with their respective parents to discuss details of their wedding over dinner.

Though unsatisfied with the fact that Ri Jeong Hyeok had brought another woman along with him to a hotel before they semi-exchanged vows, Seo Dan suppressed those feelings. She knew well that mentioning such mocking truth might put a longer lease on the engagement and post-pone the wedding, or even worse, it may be completely broken off.

“I will marry Seo Dan. It is a long-standing promise that I am inclined to fulfill.”

To Seo Dan, they were empty words. Stubborn as she was, she knew better than anyone that there was and never existed any love between them, and every seemingly reasonable word Ri Jeong Hyeok had muttered scarred her inside.

But it was decided. The last Saturday of next month she will finally be wedded with the man whom she had been waiting for for seven whole years.

After the dreadful and embarrassing dinner where her mother spoke too much of things too unconventional, Seo Dan made her way up to the hotel rooftop. She needed fresh air after being in such a dense and uneasy room with a very grim looking Ri Choong-ryeol and her far too excited mother. And of course, a very, very laid-back Ri Jeong Hyeok, who did not make the situation any less awkward.

As she rose to ground level of the rooftop, she noticed a tall man already standing at the edge of the railings. He had his hands in his suit pockets and was looking far into the traffics of Pyongyang.

Who knew, maybe he had just been in the same situation that she was, or maybe something far worse and might be attempting suicide.

She walked up to him, and it didn’t take her another step to realize that it was Gu Seung Jun, the man she had saved and cooked porridge for.

Gu Seung Jun turned to her.

“Seo Dan! We meet again!” Seeing the beautiful woman he was convinced was somewhat his fate, he began chuckling like a child. Having noticed she gave him a strange look as he spoke, he decided to recite a lie regarding his prominent South Korean accent. Surely that was why she had shot him a look.

“Actually, I am a British Diplomat here on business. That’s why I sound like this, you don’t have to call the cops on me,” he said as he handed forward his fake identification.

“I don’t care about you, or the way you talk.”

“Then perhaps, you are thinking about a man you do care about but doesn’t return the same feelings,” Gu Seung Jun replied, all too quick. 

She paused. _How could he know?_

Gu Seung Jun wondered the same. The words came swiftly out his mouth, yet he had no idea how he comes to speak those words.

Judging from the look on the woman’s face, he assumed he had guessed correctly.

Suddenly, a familiar pain came to his head and shook his senses from his soul to core. It spread, and while the pain lasted, a series of images came to his mind.

There was a woman in front of him, the night was dark and they stood on a bridge with colorful railings. Overwhelming sensations came from inside him. The memory lasted for only a mere second, and in that one second of euphoria, he sensed an unspeakable feeling of desire, of lust, and of love. Though the second was short, the senses he received from it didn’t fade until Seo Dan spoke once more, and he forced himself to be pulled back together.

“What…what would you have done if you were me?”

Coming back to his senses and processing his thoughts, he answered:

“The man you love doesn’t love you back, right?”

Seo Dan returned a complicated look. She looked as though she was denying it, but Gu Seung Jun could see right past her.

“I don’t know what is going on between you, but a relationship can only survive if the love and care are shared. If a man cannot love you, even after your multiple attempts to push yourselves together, you will never win his heart.”

Seo Dan was pulled in, for she had focused on her studies and had little to no experience in relationships, Gu Seung Jun’s words were new to her.

“Even if we are bound to marry the next month?”

He blinked twice. _Marry?_

“Then it wouldn’t work. Before marriage, the man and woman are supposed to go on dates. They eat together, take walks in the park at night together, etcetera etcetera. It’s even more impossible for him to fall in love after marriage, because that is when you need to become adults and worry about other things. You follow?”

He stared deep into her eyes and found her large pupils to be filled with disappointment and sorrow.

Staring into those beautiful brown eyes, it took him only half a second to come to a conclusion.

“But you don’t _really_ love him, do you?”

Seo Dan looked up at him in a flash. His change of remarks was far too sudden. Then, she wanted with all her heart to say no and deny away at his words, but she couldn’t.

Even through her mulishness, it was slowly dawning on her that what Gu Seung Jun said, although incredibly undesirable, was indeed the painful, and undeniable truth.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late chapter update everyone! I was on a road trip and didn’t really get the chance to write or upload… I wanted to post yesterday, but I lost three chapters on my laptop (Word hates me) so I had to rewrite them! Sorry!

Gu Seung Jun sat on his hotel bed with his arms around his knees. It was an unusual sight to see a tall man like him being crunched into a small, helpless ball. The little fragments of “memories” were beginning to piece together… and the story they told, was something he could not understand.

He was desperate for answers. After seven long years of struggling with the voice in his head, he had a feeling he was finally close to unveiling the truth. But what could it be?

Those once muddled visions were coming together, into lucid scenes.

There was one where she took care of him when he was sick. There was one where he kissed Seo Dan under the rainbow lights of a Pyongyang bridge. One where he slid a diamond ring on her finger.

Through all the uncertainty, one thing was sure. These were not just the fantasies of a man who had been single for all too long. He could not make them up if he wanted to.

Gu Seung Jun faced a dilemma. Are these memories? Or are these… the future?

The thought of it sent shivers up his spine. Gu Seung Jun had always praised himself for being a "half-God-like" existence and was never confused by anything in the universe, but it was not the case this time. He always wanted to believe in science, but it seemed as though this series of events was _not_ something that science could ever explain.

On impulse, he almost grabbed his phone to call one of those wacky fortune-telling women, but he brushed off the thought as he realized he didn’t even know if there were such a profession in North Korea.

“Aish jinjja…Well…If I couldn’t call a fortune-telling woman,” he paused, “a pretty woman would do, right? Both are weird and are women…It will do.”

He reached for his phone again and dialed Seo Dan’s number from memory. It was another thing that came up in his visions, and for the sake of being a conman, he was sensitive enough for numbers to remember her phone number immediately.

_If this works…I’ll declare myself crazy and retire to some hidden place in the forests, where I will spend the rest of my life alone, with the squirrels._

_“Dduu…..dduu….dduu_ ….Yeoboseyo?”

Seo Dan's voice sounded through the hotel room. Gu Seung Jun was struck with bewilderment, and in disbelief, he stood, his right hand clasped over his wide-open mouth.

“Yeoboseyo? Who is this?”

“Oh, oh. Seo Dan-ssi,” you could _hear_ his grinning, “do you want to have dinner with me tonight? I have my car, so I can drive you back to your house afterward.”

\-----

“...No. I am busy.”

In his experience, if one pauses before giving a definite answer, they are definitely considering it. Confident, Gu Seung Jun pressed. It didn’t take him too many lines of persuasion to get her to agree.

“Yes, yes. I promise I will not faint on you again. Tonight, ramyeon at your newlyweds’ house, promise you’ll show up?”

“I promise.”

Gu Seung Jun made a little dance of victory when he hung up, and celebrated his own charisma and handsomeness for being such a dependable lifesaver at times. He was excited like a little boy getting ready for a road trip. It was only ten in the morning, and a trip to Seo Dan's apartment would take him a mere two hours, yet he was already getting ready to go. 

Gu Seung Jun dressed himself up in a velvet regal blue suit and a fine black shirt. He arranged his raven black hair with water, and shot flirty looks to the reflection of himself in the mirror. 

Seo Dan had given him instructions to pick her up at the Ryongwang Café. She had said a word or two that she was going to have coffee with her highschool "friends". So he did as he was told. 

\----

Seo Dan was sitting at a table of four, with three North Korean women. As he approached them, Gu Seung Jun could barely believe that those three were of the same age as her. The women were wearing bright, baggy, floral dresses and North Korean styled hair, with too much blush on their cheeks and a very questionable blue eyeshadow. Seo Dan stood out, not only with a better sense of fashion and prettier face, but also her unique, knowledgable, and confident disposition.

Having spotted Gu Seung Jun standing behind them, Seo Dan immediately stood up with her purse and left the table with a short word of regard. 

"Thank God you are here," she muttered beneath her breath as she linked her arms around his.

This "intimate" gesture took Gu Seung Jun by surprise, and he could barely mouth a word of greeting to the women.

The three North Korean women stared in awe. Only a few minutes ago, they were nagging Seo Dan of her being single and boasting of their own husband and children. 

Seo Dan smirked to herself, satisfied. Take _that_.

Gu Seung Jun adjusted himself. "Seo Dan, let us go home. I have made a splendid feast for you."

He looked at her with loving eyes. 

Two of the women at the table looked as if their eyes would fall out of their sockets, and one was visibly drooling on her hand.

Triumphant, the two departed the café, arms linked and standing tall as if they had just destroyed their opponents - which they indeed did.

And now to the "splendid feast" awaiting them at home -- two warm bowls of South Korean ramyeon.


End file.
